week 39 check in

[Sheri]

Hi everyone,

Things are calming down a bit, thankfully! Also pleased to get some sun and warmer temperatures after that nasty cold and rain in Michigan.

Going to put some halloween decor up this weekend!

This week I finished:

Nona the Ninth - i feel like i'm still confused by this haha. I clearly need to sit down and re-read the whole series back to back. I'll probably do it just before Alecto comes out so I can finish it with everything fresh in my mind. That's not to say it wasn't good, the world is fascinating. I just had a really hard time keeping characters straight since there were a lot of nicknames thrown around, and I had trouble remembering who appeared in previous books and who were new characters.

Spinning Silver - audio re-read. I love this book in general, it was a great audio book. Fairy tales are great for being read out loud, and the narrator was a great one.

Cemetery Boys - absolutely loved this. Nice spooky read for the start of spooky season. Reminded me a lot of Under the Whispering Door

currently reading:

My Best Friend's Exorcism - one of my friend's been talking this up, and the movie just came out so thought i'd give it a try. I'm liking it so far!

QOTW:

Is anyone doing spooky reading for the season? what are you reading?

Normally i don't do seasonal reading, but since I'm not drowning in reading challenges this year, I totally can! Nona kicked it off, if somewhat unintentionally. Cemetery boys was a nice follow up, plus My Best Friend's Exorcism. I also plan to do my annual Night Circus re-read, I got the Daughter of Doctor Moreau, might see what else catches my eye.

[Jen W.]

I don't really have a lot to report, since I checked in so late last week. :)

I'm so glad it's getting cooler around here. The start of this week was warm, but now it's turning into sweater weather and I am here for it.

Sheri - I loved Cemetery Boys! And I am still confused by Nona, too. I think I'll join you in that reread prior to Alecto coming out!

Currently reading:
I am a little over halfway through Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel. I'm enjoying it so far, but I do have one complaint. The author has a phrase she uses multiple times: "she cut her eyes at him." From context, I understand what she's saying (like, she looked over at him suddenly), but I find the phrase jarring.

QOTW:
I don't have any specifically spooky reads planned. I don't read a lot of horror except from authors I trust, but I do enjoy paranormal, urban fantasy, and "spooky-adjacent". I'm planning to pick up The Ex Hex from the library soon, and maybe I'll continue on my belated catch-up/reread of Seanan McGuire's urban fantasy. Seanan always feels Halloween-appropriate. :)

[Sheri]

Jen, I liked the Ex-Hex, I read it earlier this year. I thought it was pretty charming! :) If you like romances anyhow. I don't mind them occasionally. And at least if I remember right, the main conflict did not stem from the two of them simply failing to have a conversation like two adults which is my biggest peeve in romances.

[Jen W.]

Sheri, that sounds good. I enjoy romances, but I get so annoyed sometimes at the miscommunication trope.

[Rebecca]

We have the rain here now! It's the hurricane remnant, but it's not bad this far inland and looks like it'll be gone tomorrow.

Unicorn (and Horse) - This is a children's picture book. It is funny in a slightly snarky way, and the illustrations are great. I will say that some of the, uh, character development at the end felt unearned, but, you know, it's a 20-page book for preschoolers.

The Monster's Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How It Shook Our World - I really enjoyed this. It is more about the guy who discovered the T. rex, and secondarily the head of the AMNH who funded him, than it is about the actual discovery, but it covers a lot of the history of dinosaur science generally and then the context of that specific time, including the museum head's dedication to eugenics and how that shaped the museum. The bit about the Cope/Marsh "Bone Wars" made me yet again want to read a book specifically about that, and there is one listed in the sources! The library doesn't have it, but it might be worth ILL-ing eventually.

The Maid - There seems to be a lot of hype and a lot of backlash about this. I thought it was mostly cute. It is IN NO WAY a locked-room mystery (shakes finger at jacket blurb); it's the sort of book where the protagonist mentions seeing something but then doesn't tell the reader what it was. I cannot really speak to its depiction of neurodivergence; the protagonist does not have a specified diagnosis, but has difficulty with social interactions and relies on protocol. (She was actually really similar to the protagonist of Convenience Store Woman.) She is likeable and I don't think she would cast people with autism in a bad light or anything. Anyway it dragged a bit in the middle but it's got a found-family happy ending and I don't regret reading it.

QOTW: I am still planning to see if I can get Mexican Gothic, and I might try some OG Gothic as well. I've done Udolpho, so maybe the OGest OG, Otranto? Also I just read some positive reviews of The Chocolate Cobweb, which was described as "domestic suspense" but certainly has a Halloween-appropriate title.

[Susan]

I have two finishes this week.

There a town non-fiction book group (via FB) that I joined that just started up. I just finished its book What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing. It is with Oprah Winfrey. I'm not sure what to make of it. Neither my husband nor I grew up with neglect, trauma or abuse and neither have our kids. So I'm reading it from a bit of a detached viewpoint. But the information from Dr Perry is really interesting too. Hopefully I can make the meeting this month for that discussion.

Although I finished it a week or so ago, my IRL neighborhood book club met this week to discuss The Eighty-Year-Old Sorority Girls. The consensus was "terrible" "I hated it." "I could not get close to finishing." "Saccharin, no plot, shallow characters." So none of us recommend it! Not sure how it has a GR rating over 4.

Today I finished Zoe's Tale on audiobook. It held my interest in its retelling of the events from The Last Colony from Zoe's point of view and there were a lot of differences. They really were two different stories that happened to occur in the same location with some overlapping characters.

Finally, I got Legends & Lattes from the library! I put it on hold in November 2021 and my turn finally came up almost 11 months later. I am looking forward to it!

Not sure what my next audiobook will be. I'll report whatever it is next week.

QOTW: I don't do spooky or themed reads generally. But a few that others have mentioned sound interesting and I'll add them to my TBR list.

[Kathy]

Making some headway on my yearly goals since my last check in.
Read and liked The President's Hat for my book nerds translation because I enjoyed a previous book by the author in my IRL book club. Both of them had plots depending on people finding a lost object; now wondering if this is his thing.
Really liked The Rook, which apparently already had a single season TV adaptation. Secret British organization to deal with supernatural issues. Reminded me a bit of Rivers of London, but spy-like rather than police. There was extra author material included, and one of the questions frequently asked of Daniel O'Malley is how did he (a male auhor) create such a great female protagonist. Have the second in the series on my TBR pile.
Working my way through the Andy Carpenter series from the beginning because I can't remember which ones I've read, finished #3 Bury the Lead. They are courtroom mysteries, generally humourous. So far aging ok.
Did a reread of Project Hail Mary for my IRL book club. Still really enjoyed the main characters' relationship.
I really liked Tj Klune's most recent books so I also read an earlier one The Lightning-Struck Heart. I liked it and got hooked in the first 10 pages because it was so funny, but way raunchier than I usually read so will be doing a better check of content before I read other stuff from the author. His style really changed for The House in the Cerulean Sea.
Read and liked A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, the second in the new series by Becky Chambers. You should definitely read the first one beforehand, almost no background included. Nice to have a book short enough to read in a day.
Finally, read Legends & Lattes, which I would describe as a cozy fantasy. I liked it, but think my expectations were too high because of all the positive FoE reviews.
QOTW:
Spooky is not among my preferred genres. However, I'm planning on reading Frankenstein: The 1818 Text for my book nerds prompt of young author so this seems like a good month to do that.

[Shel]

This week I finished The Survivors, a mystery set on the island of Tasmania (used it for the Australia prompt). It was quite gripping and I had a hard time putting it down.

That's been about it...I do have another book from the library that I meant to start, but have not really been in the right head space for something as intense as this one looks so I've been re-reading the Belgariad, which is dated and full of gender stereotypes but I will never stop loving it. I probably wouldn't like it much if I encountered it today, but the nostalgia factor is strong :)

QOTW: I've been pondering re-reading A Night in the Lonesome October, but not sure I'm going to actually get around to it.